Taking over the family business
by Gwyndolyn Slim
Summary: Uchiha Itachi, at age 25, is forced to leave behind the job that he loves in order to begin the job that he despises. Switching jobs and atmospheres, Itachi fears that he might never be happy with his life, until he falls for the company janitor.
1. The talk with daddy

Fugaku Uchiha was a fifty years old man who had a dream to own his own company one day. He started small, working as an errand boy as a part time job in the company that his best friend's father owned. He was about fifteen-years-old, back then, and the $5.50 an hour pay wasn't half bad either. When he turned seventeen he met his wife, Mikoto, when he began answering the phone for his boss. Then when he turned twenty-two he was appointed senior vice president, and then at twenty-seven, he became the CEO of the company that his best friend's father owned. Now at fifty, he was ready to retire and hand his company down to his first born son, Itachi Uchiha.

Fugaku had his hands folded across his face, a stern look on his face, and was looking his 25 year old son right in the eye. Itachi looked at his father with a bored look on his face. He really didn't want to be here, in all honesty, he'd rather be in the kitchen with his mother and help her figure out what was for dinner instead of sitting with his father right now. Shows how much he loves his father. "Itachi, you know what you must do, don't you?" Fugaku said, in his deep rough voice. Itachi was quiet for a few moments, he knew the answer, but he refused to voice it. Fugaku sighed, then leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his black and, slightly grey at the roots, hair.

"Itachi…I am old. I am fifty-six years old, and I'm done with this company." He kicked off his shoes and put his feet up on the desk. "I honestly cannot keep up with this place. Now I know you don't want to do this, but Sasuke is still in college. He can't possible juggle the family company and his school work together. It'd be too much stress for him, and he'd be growing premature grey hair at the age of twenty-one." He stopped and took a breath. He needed a drink, and it was only 1:15 in the afternoon. This company already made him pick up smoking, but drinking as well? Oh he definitely had to go. He looked at his son, and was somewhat happy that Itachi showed a look of understanding in his features.

"I understand father, you are…old, if I do say so myself." His father chuckled, Itachi would have laughed right along with him if it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to be here. "But…I don't think I could keep the company stable. Father, I'm an eighth grade English teacher, what do I know about business, trade, and financing?" Itachi had a point, English literature and financing were two totally different fields, and there was no way Itachi was going to go back to college to get a masters in that. He chose to become a teacher for a reason, to work with the next generation of children, and to steer clear away from what his father (and family) wanted him to be.

Fugaku sighed as he dug through his desk and got out his pack of cigarettes. Itachi looked at the pack of cancer sticks with disgust. If this company made his father pick up such an awful habit, then the company can fuck itself. There's no way he'd pick up smoking, ever. Itachi watched his father blow out a stream of the grey toxins, then waved his hand around his face. It was supposed to make his father stop when in front of him, but all Fugaku did was turn around in his chair and look out the giant window that was stationed behind his desk. "Itachi…please…I need to stop this. I'm fifty-six, almost fifty-seven in a few weeks. All I ask of you is to take over until Sasuke is out of college and has his life planned out for him."

Itachi considered this. All he had to do was work as CEO until Sasuke was eligible to take over the position. He sighed, not really wanting to work for his father's company whatsoever. He preferred working with hormonal pre teenagers than with stingy adults. Itachi slumped in his chair, his elbows on his knees, and then rubbed his forehead. He'd have to quit his job, and leave his kids. He had made some sort of connection with his kids…he'd miss their promotion to the 9th grade…he'd miss them. His class or his father…this was such a hard choice to make.

Fugaku put out his cigarette, then looked back at Itachi. He sighed, figuring that this would be a hard decision for Itachi to make. "Look, I'll give you two weeks to…say goodbye to your students, but please Itachi, I'm ready to retire." Itachi looked up at his father, glaring at him, then got up and left the office in a huff. Fugaku felt as if a part of him left that office along with his son, and not in the festive way he was going to be doing in two weeks time. 1:25...he needed a drink.

The bell rang, which indicated that the students should be in their classes at the moment, and if they're still mingling in the hallway, they should report to the cafeteria for a late pass. Itachi watched his class talk amongst themselves from his desk in the front of the class. He'd miss them, all of them, even the trouble makers. He got up out of his seat, then took an empty desk and pulled it out of one of the rows of desks. He sat on top of it. "Settle down class, I need to shed some information for you all." The class, with a few last hushed words going about, did as he said, and settled down. Itachi opened his mouth, then began to speak "I will be leaving in two weeks, and I won't be coming back." A few hands shot up "Please hold your questions until the end." The hands went back down

"My father, he's retiring from the family company, and he needs someone to pick up after him so that it will continue to stay stable."

"Your old man can't get your brother to fill in for him?" One of the troublemakers yelled. A few of the other student agreed with him, seeing as how Itachi has a brother (he told the class about him on the second day of school) it only seemed fair that Sasuke should take over since Itachi already has a career.

"People please! I know you all have a lot of questions but I need to finish what I have to say. Remember in class room discussions? We have to wait for one person to finish in order for someone else to begin." The class became quiet again, and they all looked at Itachi with the utmost attention. "My younger brother is still in college, there's no possible way he could keep up with college and be a CEO of a company, it's just simply too much." He looked over most of the class, the troublemakers, all in a group, were conversing quietly to themselves, while the others still had their attention glued to him.

"Please try to understand, I'm not doing this because I want to, I honestly don't want to, but I have to. My father is fifty-six, almost fifty-seven, and he's ready to retire. I have to take over for him."

"That is so bull shit! I don't want a new teacher Itachi-sensei, We don't want a new teacher!" One of the trouble makers yelled. "That's so bullshit! So what about us, what about your students!? Didn't your old man even once think about us!?"

"Naruto, control yourself!" Itachi was appalled that Naruto would ever dare to swear in his class, he had a strict 'No cursing' rule in his classroom. He deemed it unnecessary to have to say a curse word in order to get your point across. "And watch your language when in this room, you know of the strict-"

"Bump that shit! I'm pissed, your father is being a jerk! What about us, the 'future generation' as you call us! You're supposed to take care of us, how're we supposed to-"

"Naruto Uzumaki, control yourself or leave the classroom!" Itachi honestly didn't want to kick Naruto out, he was a good kid with good intentions. Itachi knew how much he meant to Naruto, he was like an older brother figure for him since Naruto honestly doesn't have any siblings, and was a foster care child so he didn't have biological parents either.

Naruto sat in his seat obediently, eyes filled to the brim with angry tears. One of his friends tried to comfort him, but it was denied. Naruto gave Itachi his undivided attention, just like the rest of the class before the outburst. "This is going to be a tough transition, especially since it's so close to the end of the year and you all will be in high school very soon. I know it seems unfair, but I will do my best to prepare you for high school with the two weeks I have left here. And the day I leave, I'll have something nice prepared for you all." Some hands shot up, and Itachi gladly began answering questions.

"Itachi-sensei, why can't your mother fill in for you?"

"Because she has her own business going on. She's a cosmetologist, and she's about to retire herself since she's fifty-two."

Another hand. "Itachi-sensei, what're you going to be doing for us the day you have to go?"

"It's a secret, I can't tell you." The class erupted in full blown conversation, telling each other about what they think Itachi will bring in, a movie and snacks some kids said, a party others put in, a free day out in the field a few others said. Naruto's hand shot up. Itachi was a bit hesitant calling on him, but he did so anyway.

"Itachi, can you bring your brother in? I wanna meet him." The rest of the class immediately agreed with him. Meeting the legendary Sasuke Uchiha would be a wonderful treat. They had heard so much about him from Itachi, meeting him would be a memorable experience that the kids would treasure, until they get to high school of course. Itachi chuckled, seeing how Naruto finally got his usual loud self back together. Itachi shrugged

"I could bring him with me, but that doesn't mean he'll converse with you all. Sasuke is very anti-social and-"

"I don't care if he's anti-social, schizophrenic, bi-polar, whatever! I wanna meet him!" Itachi was amazed that Naruto even knew the word Schizophrenic, but he decided not to dwell on it for too long.

"Naruto, It's up to Sasuke after all, you can't force him to come in and expect him to make nice with you all. Sasuke's much more complex than that." Naruto slammed his hand on the desk, then put his feet up on the desk, folding his arms as he did so. Itachi chuckled at Naruto's small temper tantrum, then called on another student.

At the end of the (long) day, Itachi was picking up papers from off his student's desks, sighing as he looked at Naruto's paper. Itachi made an assignment due at the end of the day; make a three paged short story and have it consist of one of the elements of gothic fiction. Everything was grammatically correct, his sentence structure was superb, and the creation of characters were made wonderfully. But it didn't consist of any elements concerning to gothic fiction. Therefore, Itachi had to give him a zero. He shook his head, Naruto had so much potential, but he always made stupid mistakes. But this one seemed to be something that he did on purpose rather than a stupid mistake that he normally has when he writes his short stories.

There was a knock on the door. Itachi went over to go open it, and saw Naruto standing out in the hallway with a sullen look on his face. He ushered Naruto inside, then sat him down at his desk. It was quiet for a few minutes. Naruto looked up with tears in his eyes that were threatening to spill. Itachi didn't really know what to do at the moment, he couldn't really comfort students since it was against the law for him to have a friendship like connection with his students. Anything passed that he could go to jail for. A chocked sob. Naruto began crying, laying his head on his desk, crying his eyes out. This was just as much taking a toll on Naruto as it was for Itachi. Itachi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder, rubbing in circular motions.

"Itachi…" Naruto said in between sobs "I don't want you to leave…" He looked up and showed Itachi his tear stained face. Itachi was the closest thing to a brother that Naruto ever had. It was already hard on him knowing that Itachi already had a younger brother, but leaving Naruto was something that would just destroy the child. He'd most likely drop out of school and never amount to anything in the world. This was killing Itachi, there was no way he'd leave Naruto in the hands of some stranger who would most likely misunderstand and not even bother to get to know him.

"Naruto…I don't want to leave, but I have to. I promise you, I'll keep in contact with you after I leave." Naruto sniffed then wiped his eyes.

"I missed my bus…can you take me home?" Naruto got up out his chair, still wiping tears out of his eyes.

Itachi smiled, "Of course I will."


	2. A knocking at the door

Authors Note: I forgot to add this in the last chapter, I was sort of in a hurry to post the beginning of the story. I'd like to thank TenshiXXX for helping me out with the summary, although it was a bit too long (I swear to the gods I hate that damn character limit in the summary), I like it a lot.

Secondly, after this story (hopefully gets complete, I have an awful habit of losing interest in my stories, and never finishing them), I'll be making a KakuHidan and finally a drabble collection for SasoDei. Either or may come first, I'm not entirely sure. Either way, they'll both happen in the near future.

After these three are complete, I'll add in random one shots until I get bored of fan , and leave. I'll either leave, or stick around and add random one shots. The review rate on the SasuNaru and KisaIta fandoms are sad. I get about a boat load of author/story alerts, and hardly ever get any reviews. If people like them, and will put them on their story alert list, then you might as well add in a review with kind words, constructive criticism, or SOMETHING in there. Hell, even a flame is nice every now and again. At least they put time into writing something to the author.

Enough with the rambling, time to get on with the second chapter everyone's been waiting a while for. I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 2:

Itachi sat at the dinner table, eating the food that his mother had prepared. Usually he would eat a TV dinner at his own home while grading papers instead of dining with his parents. Perhaps tonight was some sort of special occasion, after all, Sasuke was at the table in a dressy button down shirt with a black tie. Must be some sort of special occasion going on that he must've forgotten about.

Mikoto sat down at the table, next to her husbands questionably empty seat. She looked down at her plate, then looked over to Itachi. She smiled at him, and he gave her a half hearted smile back. She straightened up, "Boys, your father…" She was hesitant with her words, something bad must have happened. Sasuke and Itachi both visibly straightened up when she stopped at 'your father'. "Your father…"She was choking on a sob "He…he had a heart attack…while working today." Itachi's heart stopped for a moment, this couldn't be happening, he had two weeks! "He's in critical condition at the hospital, I just got back from there…the doctors said…" She broke down crying there.

Sasuke and Itachi both raced to their sobbing mother. Sasuke pulling Fugaku's chair and sitting in it next to his mother. Itachi stood, rubbing circles in her back, "Mother…you don't have to go on…" She wiped the tears out of her eyes, then flipping her hair out of her vision. "Your father…he…he might not live…" Itachi knew those cigarettes would kill his father one day, he just didn't know it would be so soon.

"Mom, is there something you need for us to do for you at the moment?" Sasuke spoke up for the first time throughout the entire night. "Do you want me to go over to the hospital, to see dad?"

"No…your father needs his rest, and we need our strength. Please, sit down and eat." Mikoto pulled up her chair and began eating her food, taking small bites as she worked her way through her plate. Sasuke and Itachi both looked at each other, then decided to sit where they were at the moment. Sasuke sat in his father's chair at the head of the table, while Itachi sat down next to his mother, making sure she'd eat everything that was on her plate. During times where Mikoto was under a lot of stress, she always cut back on eating. But now she was eating bigger bites, as if she hadn't eaten in the longest time. Itachi didn't know what was worse, an anorexic mother or an obese mother.

After dinner, Mikoto said that she was tired, and decided to go to bed, which meant that it was time for Sasuke and Itachi to both go to their own homes. As they walked out of the expensive mansion and towards their cars, they both had a face full of worry. "Itachi, do you think…father will live?" It was a simple yes or no question

"Maybe" But, this question had an in between.

"Maybe? What do you think the chances are?"

"Sasuke, I don't know…I'm an English teacher…I don't know that much about percentages…" Itachi took out his car keys, unlocking his car then getting in. Sasuke was on the other side of the door, he had depressing eyes.

"What about the company…?"

Itachi gripped the steering wheel. "I'll take care of that. Don't worry about it." Itachi then drove off, away from his little brother. He had enough stuff going on…but with his father's latest heart attack, the fear of his mother over eating, and his class needing him, he felt as if he needed to be in three places at once.

When he got to his apartment flat, he plopped down on his bed, the mattress groaning in protest. This was all happening to fast at one time. His father wanted him to take over the company in two weeks time, he tells his class that he'll be leaving in two weeks, his mother invites him to dinner only to tell him that father had a heart attack and might not live because of it. He needed a drink, and it was only 7:45. He hoped that alcohol wont do to him what cigarettes did to his father.

(Space filler :O)

It was a Saturday, thank the gods above, and Itachi needed to grade the short stories that his class had done the day before. He also had to tell the principle, Orochimaru, that he had to quit in order to fill in for his father. Itachi sighed, sitting on his couch with the TV on, red pen in hand, ready to mark the papers that had any errors on it. What was he going to do? Just up and leave his class when he promised them two weeks? He couldn't do that, not to such good kids. They didn't deserve it, none of them. He rubbed his forehead then began making corrections to the papers that were on his lap. "Best place to start is at the beginning…" He then began grading papers, one by one. A few of them didn't have names on them, so those were automatic zero's, which helped Itachi get through them a lot quicker.

He got to Naruto's paper, which he had read the previous day before. He decided to give Naruto the benefit of the doubt, and read through it. The story was superb, just as it was the day he first read it, but just like the day he first read it, it didn't contain anything relating to gothic fiction. He gave Naruto a zero, and then added a side note. "Does not contain anything related to gothic fiction". He got up and went over to his fridge, he had restocked a few days ago, and was glad that he put beer on the list. He grabbed one, then went back to his seat on the couch, gulping down some of the contents inside the can. Someone knocked on his door, perfect timing. He needed a distraction.

"Naruto, how did find my home?" Naruto was at the door, a newspaper in his hand, with am angry look on his face.

"Are you shitting me? Did this really happen to your old man!?" Naruto opened the paper to the front page. "Billionaire CEO, Fugaku Uchiha, suffers critical heart attack!" Naruto must have memorized the paper, but what really had Itachi surprised was the fact that Naruto read the paper, aside from the fact that something that happened only a few hours ago was now the cover story. Itachi checked his wristwatch, it was 9:30 in the morning. The press sure do know how to make a statement.

"Yes this did happen, last night to be exact."

"How's your family?" Itachi moved aside in order to let Naruto in.

"Mother's distressed, Sasuke is just as worried as I am, and…I'm a little stressed myself."

Naruto plopped down on the couch, looking over the papers that Itachi was grading. "What the fuck!? You gave me a zero! Switch that!!"

"Naruto, the short story had to have an element of Gothic fiction, you didn't put anything even closely related to it in there." Itachi sat down next to his student, taking a swig of his beer.

"Good to know that you take time to let go…"

Itachi looked down at his smiling student, then shook his head. "All this stress is making me turn to alcohol," he sighed "I don't want to be an alcoholic- and before you even think about it the answer is no, I refuse to give a student an alcoholic beverage." Itachi leaned forward, elbows on his knees, then rubbed his forehead, doing this was slightly becoming a habit.

"I can help you out with this grading shit, it's not like I have anything to do on a Saturday, except watch TV."

"Why _aren't you watching TV or outside having fun by the way?"_

"_Because that shit is boring, I don't want to run around with a bunch of stupid kids trying to look cool in front of everyone."_

"_So why do you hang out with them?"_

_Naruto shrugged, picking up a paper and the red pen on the couch, "They're the only people who ever gave me the time of the day." _

_Itachi chuckled as he watched Naruto grade one of his friends work. He wasn't even half way through the page and there was already about fifty red marks on the paper._

_After about an hour of grading, there was another knock at the door. Naruto got up out of reflex whenever he heard a knocking at the door. He answered it and raised his eye brow. _

"_Who the hell are you?" He asked to the man at the other side of the door who looked a lot like Itachi._

_He grunted, "I could ask you the same thing short stuff, now move, I have to talk to Itachi."_

"_I'm not moving anywhere dip shit, so you might as well mosey your ass right on out of here." Naruto slammed the door, then went back to his seat on the couch. He looked at Itachi, who gave him a highly unimpressed look. _

"_Who was at the door?"_

"_Some guy…" Naruto picked up the red pen that Itachi gave him and went back to grading. Hard, loud, consistent knocks at the door told them both that whoever was at the door wasn't going to leave that easily. "What the fuck!" Naruto yelled as he got up. _

"_Naruto sit down, I have a feeling I know who it is…" Itachi went over to the door then answered it. He wasn't surprised in the slightest when he saw an irate looking Sasuke on the other side of the door. "Sorry about that Sasuke-"_

"_Who was that little shit?"_

_Itachi moved to the side and ushered Sasuke inside. Sasuke turned his vision over to the small blonde sitting on the couch grading papers. "You!" He stomped over to the blonde haired boy, "Who the fuck do you think you are slamming the god damn door in my face!"_

"_Sasuke, control yourself, he didn't know."_

_Sasuke snorted "Common fucking sense tells you to ask who is at the door when someone's knocking!"_

"_I did do that you stupid bitch! Stop whining about it, you're in the apartment aren't you!?" Naruto walked up to Sasuke and stood on the balls of his feet, trying his hardest to come up to Sasuke's shoulder, but failing at it._

_Sasuke chuckled smugly, "Who am I, arguing with a stupid kid," Sasuke smirked down at Naruto, who was about a foot and a half shorter than him. Naruto blushed several different shades of red before stomping on Sasuke's foot. Sasuke howled in pain._

"_I am not a stupid fucking kid!" Naruto screamed_

_Sasuke tripped the small boy, making him fall on his face. There was a small scuffle between the two before Sasuke had him pinned to the floor. Naruto had both his wrists in a tight grip above his head, and his legs were spread, thanks to the knee Sasuke put between them, so that he wouldn't kick him in his nuts._

"_Now, I want to hear a fucking apology come out of your mouth you piece of shit!"_

"_Fuck you!"_

"_Sasuke and Naruto that's enough!" They both looked at Itachi, who looked a little less than pleased at the moment. Sasuke growled at Naruto, who stuck his tongue out in return, then got off of him. Naruto sat up, rubbing his wrists and glaring at the man who had pinned him to the floor. "I will not have young adults tumbling on around my floor, acting like children!" Naruto got off the floor, dusting his pants off, eyes still fixated and glaring at Sasuke._

"_Sasuke, is there a reason behind your visit, or were you just passing by?" _

"_I came here to see if you were okay, you seemed to be under a lot of stress last night, so I came by to check up on you, maybe even go out to eat."_

_Itachi smiled at Sasuke, he normally didn't have time to mingle with family affairs because of the fact that he was working on his finance degree. He was too busy with college to afford to spend time with the family. "Sasuke, I'd love to go and eat lunch with you, but I have papers to-"_

"_All done!" Naruto put the last graded paper in the 'finished' pile, cracked his knuckles, then stretched. _

"_So where're we going for lunch!?"_


End file.
